Because of the need for its open world to have a post-credits endgame shelf life, it is incredibly difficult to discern what sort of state New York City is in by the end ofMarvel’s Spider-Man 2.Peter Parker, Miles Morales, and Mary Jane Watson were successful in defeating Harry Osborn’s Venomand the meteorite’s invasion-inducing symbiote powers with the Emily-May Foundation’s particle accelerator—that much is clear. But besides the massive black tendrils coiling around buildings having vanished, it’s uncertain how much that work actually did to quell the symbiote threat.
Symbiote nests malignantly litter New York City, for example, and symbiote-laden pedestrians are rampant so Insomniac could make use of a new enemy type fromMarvel’s Spider-Man 2’s third act. The symbiotes being an issue at all is the fault of Norman Osborn and Dr. Curtis Connors if players trace the narrative back to the root, and yet Peter is the reason why Harry was able to become Venom and incite a city-wide invasion. Peter’s carelessness, which obviously stemmed from an excuse to have the symbiote return to Harry somehow, is also why he now possesses his own white-and-black symbiote.
In a baffling scene, Peter arrives at Oscorp with the symbiote recently removed from his person and bottled. Harry’s here, sickly and using a cane to walk around, and Peter knows that the symbiote is too dangerous to be let out, much less go back to Harry. However, Peter—a superpowered individual with miraculous agility and strength—is somehow overwhelmed by Harry, who stumbles forward and swipes at Peter weakly with his cane, which results in the canister breaking and releasing the symbiote.
It’s deeply unrealistic to believe that Peter couldn’t have leaped away and kept Harry at a distance to defend the canister’s integrity, especially with himunderstanding the ramifications of the symbiote getting near Harry again. Insomniac chose for this to be the way that the symbiote goes from Peter to Harry out of convenience, though there are surely countless other ways this transition could have been achieved without making Peter seem reckless and stupefied.
It’s interesting to consider what would have happened if Harry never bonded with the symbiote again, such as whether the particle accelerator would have been used to destroy the meteorite still and if Peter ever would have learned that he retained a piece of the symbiote’s hive mind within him if Martin Li and Miles Morales didn’t need to dive into his psyche to save him from symbiote assailants. Either way, Peter only everneeded Li to exhaust his power to create the Anti-Venom symbiotebecause he stood there and basically handed Harry the black symbiote.
Li no longer having powers would actually be wonderful for him because he couldpotentially be rid of the demon that haunts him as Mr. Negative, but it was still a selfless, suicidal risk he took to deplete his energy fully for Peter’s sake.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2’s Harry Osborn Deserves Better Than the Kind of Friend Peter Parker is
The Anti-Venom symbiote is worn triumphantly by Peter as a means to combat the other color-coded symbiotes effectively and eventually free Harry, but the need for it at all has tragic undertones that are relayed by the fact that his supposed best friend is back on his deathbed while Peter now possesses an ailment-curing suit. Unfortunately, it’s unknownif Peter could freely give Harry the Anti-Venom suitbecause he’s never seen attempting to.
Similarly, Peter doesn’t seem perturbed at all by having a seemingly permanent attachment now to his own symbiote and wildly assumes that it’s perfectly safe regardless of how his experience with the black suit turned out. If Peter doesn’t outright try to get rid of the symbiote inMarvel’s Spider-Man 3, there needs to be a good reason as to why he needs it and why he cannot give it to Harry.
